Marsalis Teague, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound four-star athlete from Henry County High School in Paris, Tenn., is still focusing on four schools but Tennessee has replaced Ole Miss as one of the finalists.
Teague, ranked as the No. 28 cornerback in the country by Scout.com, still favors No. 1 Florida (Oct. 11 official visit) slightly over No. 4 Alabama and No. 14 Georgia Tech, with the Vols now strongly under consideration again.
"I wasn't sure about Tennessee for a while," Teague said. "But I knew I wanted to hear (new) coach Lane Kiffin out."
Teague's conversation with Kiffin was enough to put the Vols back in the mix. "They are definitely back up there. Coach Kiffin came by my house like two days after he was hired and talked to me and my family.
"He talked a lot about his time at USC and the things he did as a coordinator there," Teague said. "He also talked about his plans for Tennessee and how important I could be for them. Coach Kiffin wants to lock down the state of Tennessee and says that he wants to keep big-time recruits like me in-state."
The Vols are recruiting Teague for both offense and defense. "Coach Kiffin said they'd get me the ball some too," he said.
So overall, Teague gives the new Vols coach a thumbs up. "I just got a great impression from him," he said. "He's a good guy. He's laid back and likes to joke around."
But the Vols still have some ground to make up as the Gators remain Teague's top choice. In fact, Florida (cornerbacks) coach Vance Bedford was in Teague's home for a visit on Dec. 8. "It was good to talk with him," Teague said.
"He talked a lot and we spent a lot of time together bonding," he said. "He says that I'd fit their system well and he loves how aggressive I am when I play. Hopefully I'd be able to play early there."
Teague says the Gators are recruiting him the hardest. "They are definitely recruiting me more than anyone else," he said. "They call more, they send more letters, they write me personal notes, they ask about my family and how things are going. They just seem to want me more right now."
Next week also promises to be busy for Teague as he's expecting both Alabama and Georgia Tech coaches for in-home visits on Monday, Dec. 15. "Coach Nick Saban (from Alabama) is coming on Monday," he said. "Plus, so is (cornerbacks) coach Charles Kelly (from Georgia Tech). It's gonna be a busy night."
Teague admits he's especially looking forward to talking with coach Saban. "I haven't really gotten a good feel for him yet," he said. "I haven't been around him much and they just finally offered me about two weeks ago."
Teague did attend the Iron Bowl and was impressed with the Alabama victory over Auburn. "It was a real good atmosphere," he said. "It's always intense when they play Auburn and the fans were crazy."
Teague is also very impressed with the Tide's successful 2008 season. "Coach Saban has a young team and they are heading in the right direction," he said. "Just to be playing in the SEC championship game is really impressive."
Georgia Tech's season has also made a mark on Teague. "Coach Paul Johnson did a great job in his first year," he said. "I can't believe how well the triple option worked. I don't think anybody thought they'd do that well."
Dropping out of Teague's final four is No. 20 Mississippi. "I like them, but I just feel better about those other schools," he said.
"When I'm 100 percent sure, I'll commit," he said. "Right now it's getting kind of blurry. It's close to Christmas so I doubt I'll take any more visits this month. I'll probably wait until January when everyone is back from break."
But Teague admits that taking other visits isn't a foregone conclusion. "I've talked about wanting to take all of my official visits, but I'm not so sure," he said. "I've been to all four schools unofficially already and have a good feeling for all of them.
"I may take one or two more trips or I may not," he said. "I'm not sure."
Teague reports a perfect 4.0 core GPA (4.0 scale) and a 21 ACT.